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Shelby Steele      

Author; Columnist; Documentary Film Maker; Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution & Expert on Race Relations

Shelby Steele is the Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, specializing in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. He was appointed a Hoover fellow in 1994 and has since been recognized for his substantial contributions to the discourse on race in America.

Steele has written extensively on race in American society, with his work being recognized by major awards and publications. In 1990, he received the National Book Critics Circle Award for his book "The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America". He has also authored several other notable books such as "Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country", "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win", "White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era", and "A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America".

In 2006, Steele was honored with the Bradley Prize for his contributions to the study of race in America. He was also awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2004. His work on the 1991 documentary film "Seven Days in Bensonhurst" earned him an Emmy Award, the Writer's Guild Award, and the San Francisco Film Festival Award. More recently, Steele wrote and narrated the documentary film "What Killed Michael Brown?", exploring race relations in the United States.

Steele is a regular contributor to major publications such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and he is a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine. Over the course of his career, he has appeared on numerous national current affairs news programs including "Nightline" and "60 Minutes".

Steele is an active member of various esteemed organizations. He is a part of the National Association of Scholars, the national board of the American Academy for Liberal Education, the University Accreditation Association, and the national board at the Center for the New American Community at the Manhattan Institute.

Steele holds a PhD in English from the University of Utah, an MA in sociology from Southern Illinois University, and a BA in political science from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Speech Topics


End of Oppression

Government Reform: How They Divide Rather Than Unify

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